Sunday, June 8, 2014

Call it a hunch, but my bet is that females were the first pants-wearing horseback riders.

Here's why. Women are credited with taming wolves (dogs), boars (pigs), bovines (cows) -- and eqquines (horses), too. The dudes were too busy hunting to worry about "taming" animals; it was the women who came into close contact with these animals on a day-in and day-out basis as they went about gathering eggs (but always being careful to leave some behind), wild rice, fish, berries, grains, roots, tender stalks and other assorted shoots, herbs and greens, the origins of which lay the ancient artcraft of medicine. I cannot imagine that most women would be able to resist trying to tend to infant animals found alone in a nest or a den.

Let us hoe that because the trousers (pants) were recovered from two ancient male burials in the Tarim Basin, it is NOT automatically assumed that all pants-wears MUST have been male. Such a gender biased assumption makes for bad science.

Oldest known trousers originated in Central Asia

Two men whose remains were recently excavated from tombs in western China put their pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us. But these nomadic herders did so between 3,300 and 3,000 years ago, making their trousers the oldest known examples of this innovative apparel, a new study finds.

With straight-fitting legs and a wide crotch, the ancient wool trousers resemble modern riding pants, says a team led by archaeologists Ulrike Beck and Mayke Wagner of the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin. The discoveries, uncovered in the Yanghai graveyard in China’s Tarim Basin, support previous work suggesting that nomadic herders in Central Asia invented pants to provide bodily protection and freedom of movement for horseback journeys and mounted warfare, the scientists report May 22 in Quaternary International.

“This new paper definitely supports the idea that trousers were invented for horse riding by mobile pastoralists, and that trousers were brought to the Tarim Basin by horse-riding peoples,” remarks linguist and China authority Victor Mair of the University of Pennsylvania.

Previously, Europeans and Asians wore gowns, robes, tunics, togas or — as observed on the 5,300-year-old body of Ötzi the Iceman — a three-piece combination of loincloth and individual leggings.
A dry climate and hot summers helped preserve human corpses, clothing and other organic material in the Tarim Basin. More than 500 tombs have been excavated in a graveyard there since the early 1970s.

Earlier research on mummies from several Tarim Basin sites, led by Mair, identified a 2,600-year-old individual known as Cherchen Man who wore burgundy trousers probably made of wool. Trousers of Scythian nomads from West Asia date to roughly 2,500 years ago.

Mair suspects that horse riding began about 3,400 years ago and trouser-making came shortly thereafter in wetter regions to the north and west of the Tarim Basin. Ancient trousers from those areas are not likely to have been preserved, Mair says. [Possibly not, but we know the weaving techniques and distinctive patterns weavers used to produce their materials came from the west, as did their blue eyes, pale skin, and red hair].

Horse riding’s origins are uncertain and could date to at least 4,000 years ago, comments archaeologist Margarita Gleba of University College London. If so, she says, “I would not be surprised if trousers appeared at least that far back.”

The two trouser-wearing men entombed at Yanghai were roughly 40 years old and had probably been warriors as well as herders, the investigators say. One man was buried with a decorated leather bridle, a wooden horse bit, a battle-ax and a leather bracer for arm protection. Among objects placed with the other body were a whip, a decorated horse tail, a bow sheath and a bow. [Oh please. These items do not, in and of themselves, indicate warfare. They do indicate a hunter and "battle ax?" Who the hell would these people have been "battling?" They lived in the Tarim Basin, for pete's sake! Not exactly the greatest population center of the known world. Gender biased assumptions make for bad science!]

Beck and Wagner’s group obtained radiocarbon ages of fibers from both men’s trousers, and of three other items in one of the tombs.

Each pair of trousers was sewn together from three pieces of brown-colored wool cloth, one piece for each leg and an insert for the crotch. The tailoring involved no cutting: Pant sections were shaped on a loom in the final size. Finished pants included side slits, strings for fastening at the waist and woven designs on the legs.

Beck and Wagner’s team calls the ancient invention of trousers “a ground-breaking achievement in the history of cloth making.” That’s not too shabby for herders who probably thought the Gap was just a place to ride their horses through.

******************************

Source: M. Wagner/German Archaeological Institute.

The design of these trousers/pants sounds like unisex to me -- both genders could have worn them comfortably. Let's talk anatomy for a moment. Women have a much wider pelvic base than males do, and women also don't have a penis, since I do not have one, I assume could potentially be quite uncomfortable after a certain amount of time on horseback, particularly on long treks. Or when galloping... OUCH!

Hmmmm.... Did horseback riding lead to the invention of a form of cod's piece/??

Interesting. I wonder what linguists of the future will make of our use of words such as "sick" to express awesomeness, approval and acclaim -- you know, the old "cool" that I and millions of others still use (it surely dates us, but I don't give a hoot). Will the break the "code?"

The recently reopened Sir Paul and Lady Ruddock Gallery in room 41 of the
British Museum covers
Europe A.D. 300-1100, and includes many artifacts excavated at an Anglo-Saxon
burial mound in Sutton Hoo, England. To mark the new display, curator Rosie Weetch offers
an illuminating primer on how to decode the symbols and stories in a piece of
Anglo-Saxon metalwork that might otherwise look like mere decoration. Here at
The Eye, she shares a recent post from the British Museum blog.

One of the most enjoyable things about working with the British Museum’s Anglo-Saxon collection is having the opportunity to study the
intricate designs of the many brooches, buckles, and other pieces of decorative
metalwork. This is because in Anglo-Saxon art there is always more than meets
the eye.

The objects invite careful contemplation, and you can find yourself spending
hours puzzling over their designs, finding new beasts and images. The dense
animal patterns that cover many Anglo-Saxon objects are not just pretty
decoration; they have multilayered symbolic meanings and tell stories.
Anglo-Saxons, who had a love of riddles and puzzles of all kinds, would have
been able to "read" the stories embedded in the decoration. But for us it is
trickier as we are not fluent in the language of Anglo-Saxon art.

Illustration by Craig Williams, courtesy of the British
Museum.

Anglo-Saxon art went through many changes between the 5th and
11th centuries, but puzzles and storytelling remained central. The
early art style of the Anglo-Saxon period is known as Style I and was popular in
the late 5th and 6th centuries. It is characterised by
what seems to be a dizzying jumble of animal limbs and face masks, which has led
some scholars to describe the style as an "animal salad." Close scrutiny shows
that Style I is not as abstract as first appears, and through carefully
following the decoration in stages we can unpick the details and begin to get a
sense for what the design might mean.

One of the most exquisite examples of Style I animal art is a silver-gilt square-headed brooch from a female grave on the
Isle of Wight. Its surface is covered with at least 24 different beasts: a mix
of birds’ heads, human masks, animals, and hybrids. Some of them are quite
clear, like the faces in the circular lobes projecting from the bottom of the
brooch. Others are harder to spot, such as the faces in profile that only emerge
when the brooch is turned upside down. Some of the images can be read in
multiple ways, and this ambiguity is central to Style I art.

Top part of brooch (above) turned upside down. Image from British Museum.

Once we have identified the creatures on the brooch, we can begin to decode
its meaning. In the lozenge-shaped field at the foot of the brooch is a bearded
face with a helmet underneath two birds that may represent the Germanic god
Woden/Odin with his two companion ravens (see the first image in this post). The
image of a god alongside other powerful animals may have offered symbolic
protection to the wearer like a talisman or amulet.

Illustration by Craig Williams, courtesy of the British
Museum.

The great gold buckle from Sutton Hoo is decorated in this style. From
the thicket of interlace that fills the buckle’s surface 13 different animals
emerge. These animals are easier to spot: The ring-and-dot eyes, the birds’
hooked beaks, and the four-toed feet of the animals are good starting points. At
the tip of the buckle, two animals grip a small doglike creature in their jaws
and on the circular plate, two snakes intertwine and bite their own bodies. Such
designs reveal the importance of the natural world, and it is likely that
different animals were thought to hold different properties and characteristics
that could be transferred to the objects they decorated. The fearsome snakes,
with their shape-shifting qualities, demand respect and confer authority, and
were suitable symbols for a buckle that adorned a high-status man, or even an Anglo-Saxon king.

Animal art continued to be popular on Anglo-Saxon metalwork throughout the
later period, when it went through further transformations into the Mercian Style (defined by sinuous animal interlace) in the
8th century and then into the lively Trewhiddle Style in the 9th century.
Trewhiddle-style animals feature in the roundels of the Fuller Brooch, but all other aspects of its decoration are
unique within Anglo-Saxon art. Again, through a careful unpicking of its complex
imagery we can understand its visual messages. At the center is a man with
staring eyes holding two plants. Around him are four other men striking poses:
one, with his hands behind his back, sniffs a leaf; another rubs his two hands
together; the third holds his hand up to his ear; and the final one has his
whole hand inserted into his mouth. Together these strange poses form the
earliest personification of the five senses: Sight, Smell, Touch, Hearing, and
Taste. Surrounding these central motifs are roundels depicting animals, humans,
and plants that perhaps represent God’s Creation.

Fuller brooch. Illustration by Craig Williams, courtesy of the British
Museum.

This iconography can best be understood in the context of the scholarly
writings of King Alfred the Great (died 899), which emphasized sight and the
“mind’s eye” as the principal way in which wisdom was acquired along with the
other senses. Given this connection, perhaps it was made at Alfred the Great’s
court workshop and designed to be worn by one of his courtiers?

Throughout the period, the Anglo-Saxons expressed a love of riddles and
puzzles in their metalwork. Behind the nonreflective glass in the newly opened
Sir Paul and Lady Ruddock Gallery of Sutton Hoo and Europe A.D. 300-1100, you can do
like the Anglo-Saxons and get up close to these and many other objects to decode
the messages yourself.

An interesting find, and the experts are quite excited about it because of the exquisite detailing of the costume dressing the figurine. Is it Freya? To keep this in perspective, 4.6 cm (the size of the figurine) is 1.81102362 inches! She is very tiny, not even two inches long -- and so finely wrought and detailed.

A newly discovered female figurine amulet from Revninge in the east of Denmark represents a very interesting find due to her remarkably detailed Viking Age dress.

On April 22, 2014, Paul Uniacke had started to explore a field near Revninge with his metal detector – several items had already been recovered when to his astonishment a small fine figurine appeared. He instantly recognised it as Viking Age and immediately contacted Østfyns Museums, who confirmed his thoughts and started the process of conservation.

New knowledge

It is not always easy to imagine how people of the Viking age really looked. However, the discovery of this small gilt silver figurine contains a wealth of detail giving new knowledge about costume and jewellery of the period.

Archaeologist Claus Feveile, Department of Landscape & Archaeology at Østfyns Museums, explained, “Small characters from the Viking period are extremely rare and Revninge-woman’s dress is incredibly detailed which will contribute to the discussion on the appearance of clothes and how they might have been worn.”
There is no doubt that the 4.6 cm high figure with her hair tightly drawn back into a bun is from the Viking Age, but the detail is providing some surprises.

The body of the figurine is two-dimensional which is often the case, however the head is unusual as it is three-dimensional. Through the back of the head there is a small hole, which shows that the figure has been worn as a hanging decorative amulet. Her arms are placed down her sides with her hands on either side of her abdomen. The dress has long sleeves and is ankle length. Each section of the costume is picked out with different decoration, representing various textile and dress making techniques. It is possible she is wearing a pearl necklace which is picked out on the figure with stamped circles.

Fertility goddess?

It is the three-lobed item of jewellery that sits between her hands that is causing the greatest excitement. Archaeologists had never seen where it was really meant to be located during the life, as when found in graves it is usually placed on the chest area.
The figurine has been dated to 800 AD and can be understood in a variety of ways. They can represent goddesses like Valkyries or Norns but here it is tempting to link Revninge Woman to the fertility goddess Freya.
In 2013 at Hårby a Valkyrie figure with a face that looks like Revninge-woman was found, however unlike the HårbyValkyrie the Revninge Woman carries no weapons, and the position of the hands and the lobed jewellery over the stomach may refer to fertility, making it more likely she represents the goddess of fertility.
Source: Vikingemuseet Ladby

Archaeological teams in Iran have been racing against the clock to excavate and rescue (or prepare for submersion and rescue at some later time) at least 100 ancient sites discovered around the site of the Seimareh Dam reservoir area in western Iran. Several pictures of the intriguing water system piping are at the Payvand Iran News website:

Source: Tehran Times; photos by CHNA 5000-year-old water system has been unearthed during the second season of a rescue excavation project at the Farash ancient historical site at the Seimareh Dam reservoir area in western Iran.

An archaeological team led by Leili Niakan has been carrying out a second season of rescue excavation since March after the Seimareh Dam came on stream, the Persian service of CHN reported on Monday.

The team plans to save ancients artifacts and gather information about the ancient sites, which are being submerged by the dam that became operational in early March.

This system, which comprises a small pool and an earthenware pipeline, was discovered on the eastern beach of the dam on the border between Ilam Province and Lorestan Province, Niakan said.
Part of the water system has been submerged as the water level has risen. However, the team covered that part of the system beforehand to save it for more archaeological excavations while the dam is out of commission.

Each earthenware conduit measures about one meter in length and it is likely that they were made and baked in this region, Niakan stated. The team is still working on the site to unearth the rest of pipeline, which may lead the archaeologists to the source of pipeline, she added.

Over 100 sites dating back to the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Copper Age, Stone Age, Parthian, Sassanid, and early Islamic periods were identified at the dam's reservoir in 2007. Afterwards, 40 archaeological teams from the Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR) were assigned to carry out Iran's largest rescue excavation operation on the 40 ancient sites at the reservoirs of the dam in the first season.

Signs of the Mesopotamians' influence in the region were also identified by studies carried out on the ancient strata at the reservoir.

Most of the sites have been flooded by the dam and the rest will go under water after the filling of the dam is completed.

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"Advanced Chess" Leon 2002

About Me

I'm one of the founders of Goddesschess, which went online May 6, 1999. I earned an under-graduate degree in history and economics going to college part-time nights, weekends and summer school while working full-time, and went on to earn a post-graduate degree (J.D.) I love the challenge of research, and spend my spare time reading and writing about my favorite subjects, travelling and working in my gardens. My family and my friends are most important in my life. For the second half of my life, I'm focusing on "doable" things to help local chess initiatives, starting in my own home town. And I'm experiencing a sort of personal "Renaissance" that is leaving me rather breathless...